DURAND - HUA 


amd Se ea ne 


Psst 57th Street 
New York 
1926 


| - Exhibition of Paintings ae 
~ The IMPRESSIONISTS- 


+ sey ee pe as mes 


December 18th to 31st 


cm Ane Ira _ : 
to anal g We me: 


de 


* 


ES Ditend Racl who have fica 


i 3 Sllccics and quraneed these pic- 
tures | in honor of fifty years of 


Impressionism : 


The ‘Impressionists ‘ 


I F the history of ideas, of literature, of arts, and | 


politics 1s always a struggle between conservatism and 
tradition, guarded with obstinate resistance against the 
assaults of new ideas, new movements, and new men, 
one could not tell the story of that group of men who 
called themselves “Société anonyme des Artistes Peintres,” 
and who later became known as “Impressionists,” except 


in Ane way. 


Today when the prestige of official juries is more 
complimentary than actual, and an artist is at liberty to 
exhibit his works freely, their difticulties and struggles 
can only be judged by turning back to that past of fifty 

ears ago, and escribing its circumstances so essentially 
fed by the social and political Paris of that day, 


long since passed away. 


The Romantic tradition was a solidly established 


institution, supported by contemporary journalism, litera- 
ture, the respectab e citizen, and the government. 
When the smoke of the revolution of 1830 cleared away 
it was discovered to have been artistic as well as political 


eo and the artistic results were the more permanent. 


The philosophy of Jean J acques Rosseau had found 
its first re expression in the works of Hugo, George 


Sand, de Musset, Berlioz, Liszt, Chopin, Ingres, and 


Delacroix, and their Romanticism proved to be an im- 


mense force. Act and literature was produced as if under 
some emotional crisis, in a very fever of frenzy and vio-~ 
lence. All their searching after grandeur was to express 
man's supposed natural state freed of restraint. The aver-~ 
age simple citizen, who shone Kye) brightly in the reflected 
glory was naturally flattered with this picture of himself 
and it 1s small wonder the public clung to the Romantic 
tradition long after it had ceased to be anything but rules 


and gestures. 


Gustave Courbet had aroused a storm of protest in 
1850, with his pictures, sO superbly painted of the simple 
people about him in their work-a-day clothes. Such sub- 
jects were not considered sufficiently noble or inspired to 
be painted. The beauty and dignity of labor was a lesson 
yet to be learned. Millet later in “The Angelus” and 
“The Sower’, so well known in America, was to be re- 
fused admittance at the Salon because his subjects were 
“ignoble.” This tendency was called Naturalism and 
considered a form of anarchy. It can hardly be said to 
have become a movement but it marks a degree in the de- 


velopment of Rousseau’s influence. 


Courbet’s explosions of dissatisfaction at things 
political and artistic were many and included the first in~ 
7 dependent exhibition of paintings in Paris. It was entirely 
of his own work and given on the occasion of the Exposi- 
tion Universelle in 1855, as a protest against the jury's 
decisions. Such independence was condemned by his fel- 
low artists and the public, who considered it a political 
and revolutionary act. The danger of being judged in this 


be ; 


manner gave a tragic importance to being admitted to the 


official Salon of that day. 
The official jury of the Salon 1863 having proved | 


even more severe than usual, a number of older artists, 
already recognized, joined in the protest of those whose 
paintings had been refused a showin ; and Napoleon III 
permitted an exhibition, called “Sa on des Refusés,” in 
another part of the P alais de VP Industrie, where the official 
Salon was held. 


Manet and Whistler were unquestionably the two 
most prominent exhibitors—M anet showing that master- 
piece “Dejeuner sur l Herbe”, and Whistler his lovely 
“Lady in White”. The public came in large numbers but 
only to amuse itself, Bursts of laughter, jeers and ridicule 
were their only response to the pictures. Whistler returned 
to London, never to exhibit officially again in Paris. Manet 
became the most conspicuous man of the moment. This was 
not the fame and recognition he had worked for, but an un~ 
pleasant notoriety. Nevertheless, he was the idol of the 
younger painters and writers, and when at the Exposition 
Universelle, 1867, he followed Courbet’s example and 
Save an exhibition of his Own canvases, they flocked to it, . 
seeing in his work the expression of sO much that was in 


sympathy with their own ideals. 


A group formed around Manet in which were Zola, 
Mallarmé, Forain, Pissarro, Degas, Stevens, Monet, Ce- 
zanne: Sisley, Renoir and others, all men still little known 
but a goodly proportion of the best among the younger gen~ 


eration. In spite of all degrees and differences of opinion 
they were inspired by the same enthusiasms and general 
tendencies toward Realism, and bound together by the 
struggle against similar difficulties. 

It 1s very doubtful whether the writers and jour~ 
nalists of the group had any real appreciation of the 
abilities of the artists but in waging their own battle for 
Realism, they prepared the ground for the others. Un- 
able to inflict very deadly wounds with pen or brush 
the artists were obliged to make their protest by outrag- 
ing public opinion, and in 1874 a group exhibition was 
finally decided upon. The purpose was a most natural 
one; merely a chance to show their work and they were 
justified in adopting this means. 


The almost constant rebellions and wars since that 
first cry of Liberty in 1789, the Franco-Prussian in- 
vasion, with the Commune just ended, had left the F rench 
people, especially in Paris, unusually sensitive to any~ 


thing in the manner of a protest. 


On the advice of Degas the exhibition was general 
in character and could be said in no way to represent a 
school or creed. Everything was done not to present a 
revolutionary appearance. All these precautions were 
in vain, and if from the very opening the exhibition was 
crowded, it was not to look at the canvases of Boudin, 
Gaston~Latouche, Lépine, de Nittis, Guillemet or the 
other painters already accepted and admired. The merci-~ 
less ridicule which greeted the works of Degas, Cezanne, 


Renoir, Monet and the others would have been over- 
whelming to less strong and intelligent men. The atten- 
tion shown them was either ribald or distinctly hostile, 
and the art critics were no kinder. One man, Louis Leroy, 
in an effort to convey his idea of their complete lack of 
technical skill and accomplishment, seized upon a small 
e 2 ee 
unpretentious canvas of Monet's, a risin gsun, called ““Im- 


e 97 e e es e e 
ression , to point the moral of his criticism. 
P P 


The word ““Tmpressionism was accepted with such 
ardor by the public that it achieved a career of its own. 
Tits tise was swilt, and it had a brilliant apogee; penetrat~ 
ing even into the language of P hilosophy. Its decline was 
gradual and its end is not yet. 


This word, intended to convey an idea of ignorance 
and lack of skill was at first disliked by the men it had 
been used to describe. They quite understood that their 
art was perhaps the most intellectual the world had yet 
known—more reflection and less expression in contrast to 


the emotional Romantic School, so lacking in depth and 


RY @) lavish in expression. 


In 1876 when a second exhibition was given they 
made no effort to submerge their art in the general millieu. 
Only nineteen of the original thirty were left, and these 
the most conspicuous part. Two years had developed and 
accentuated the characteristics which distinguished the 
group, known now by the press and public only as Im- 


pressionists. 


M. Durand-Ruel, gst Sreat courage and kindness, 


offered them the hospitality of his gallery, but even with 
this valuable aid they were unable to influence public 
opinion, and the indignation, opposition and ridicule be- 
came more violent and general, as their notoriety grew. 
The paintings shown there in 1876 are today in the Sreat 
museums and collections of the world. The event was of 
the utmost importance in Nineteenth Century Art. 


If the public failed to understand, they can certainly 
be forgiven when recognized authorities like Albert M. 
Wolf wrote in Le F igaro the following notice: © The 
Rue Le Peletier is not fortunate. After the fire at the 
Opera a new disaster has fallen upon the quarter. An ex- 
hibition has just opened at the Gallery Durand-Ruel that 
is said to be of painting. The eyes of the innocent passer- 
by who enters receive a cruel shock at the spectacle. F ive 
or six deranged people, one a woman, have chosen this 
rendezvous to show their works. These pretended artists 
called ‘Impressionists’, take their canvases and their col- 
ors, and throwing them all together sign the result, just as 
one deprived of reason might pick up stones in his path and 


believe he had found diamonds,” The stones, however, 
have proved to be diamonds. 


A canvas of Monet's’ Canala Saarden’’, bought by 
Daubigny (who recognized Monet's genius), from M. 
Durand-Ruel, for the sum of four hundred francs proved 
to be one instance. After Daubigny’s death, at the sale 
of his paintings in 1878, Theodore Duret, finding no trace 
of this picture which he desired to acquire, supposed that 
the heirs had wished to retain it. F ifteen days later, en~ 


tering an auction room at the Hotel Drouot, he found 
the effects of an old studio—palettes, easels, soiled and 
— torn old canvases, and among them the “Canal a Saarden”’ 
ra by Monet: all these the contents of Daubigny’s studio. 
His heirs thinking the canvas would dishonor the sale had 
entered it here. It was sold to Duret for forty-five 


francs, and when it came up in Duret’s sale in 1894, was 


purchased by M. Durand-Ruel for the sum of five thou- 
sand francs; sold to M. Decap, and brought at his sale in 
1904 , thirty thousand francs. 


During the years when the Impressionist pictures 
were unsaleable, and those among the artists without 
other means of support endured many privations, their 
work was never modified in any way, and circumstances 
‘ were cheerfully borne for the glory of their art; inspired 
always by their inward vision. 


Sf The friends ofthese years were few but staunch. 
M. Caillebotte, a painter, who was also a banker, not 
only exhibited with them but bought their pictures and 
left his fine collection, worth millions of francs, to the 
State. It is now in the Musée du Luxembourg. 
; sa M. Choquet, painted sO magnificently by both 
Cezanne and Renoir, was an ardent friend from the first 
7 days, and bought pictures at the expense of necessary 
arm overcoats. 


hes, M. Durand-Ruel has been their greatest sigepatey er 
from 1876 until today, and all through those first years 


: : % when it was impossible to sell anything, continued to 


buy until his cash box was actually empty. T 
tion of 1882 given by M. Durand-Ruel, Bo c 
Madeleine, Paris, was the first i in aaheen a clan | cee 
public was paceeahle Time was working for | 
pressionists, and a new generation was rising, tha 
new channels for i its enthusiasms and ches oth 
academic conventions. ‘ 


Today when ‘ ‘Impressionism” i 1s iodo 1 
ardor and admiration, one despairs of revealing it 
scattered details the story of these men, own 
name, but dominated by unmistakable individuality 
searing a mode of expression that would respon 
actly to his conception, and followed more closely 


fee 


imitators and schools that came later than they can in ev 


be said to ce followed each other. 


- PaINTINGs 
/ 
MARY CASSATT 
1847-1926 


sia Mere, bebé et petite fille | 
ae Loaned by Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer 


PAUL CEZANNE 
Ba bi 1839-1906 
: 2 . Nature morte 


Loaned anonymously 


Se Un pre, 1892 
f Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


EDGAR DEGAS 
1834-1917 


f Entrée i. masques. Pp astel 
oaned anonymously 


J AG champ de courses | 
de _ Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


br Le petit déjeuner a la sortie du bain, 1883. Pastel 
~ Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


10. 


11. 


te, 


es 


EDOUARD MANET 
1832-1883 


e Les bulles de savon 


Loaned by Mr. Adolph Lewisohn. 


. Tate d’ enfant—F illette. Pastel 


Loaned by Mr. Chester Dale? 


. Le combat de taureaux, 1866 


Loaned anonymously 


CLAUDE MONET 
1840-1926 


Antibes, 1888 
Loaned by Mrs. a ibe Coburn 


La cathédrale de Rouen, 1894 
Loaned by Mr. Chester Dale> 


La Seine a Argenteuil, 1875 
Loaned by Durand Ttuel 


BERTHE MORISOT 
1841-1895 


Le lever, 1885 
Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


CAMILLE PISSARRO 
1830-1903 


14. Le grande route, 187] 
darned anonymously 


RP Jardin des Tuileries, 1900 
: Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


ey? 4 


AUGUSTE RENOIR 
1841-1919 


16. La tasse de chocolat, 1879 
el oaned anonymously 


A? si Baigneuse, 1885 
Loaned anonymously 


18. Femme dans un jardin 
‘ Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


19. Femme couchée, 1903 
Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


ALFRED SISLEY 
1840-1899 


me Gecanal du Loing, 1884 
is Loaned anonymously 


1: Les derniéres feuilles, 1883 
aa Loaned by Durand-Ruel 


ae ae, lent their pictures, ie t 


Chester Dale, who has donated this cat 


"33125 01032 5377 


